Tough Love
by Lady Kasai
Summary: Aw. My first crossover. ::sniffs:: FF7 and 8. Shounen-ai, Cloud and Squall. A sneak peak to a fic in progress. )


_A/N: Just a sneak peak into one of the stories I'm writing. If you like it, I'll post it. If you don't… Well, I'll probably post it anyway. Crossovers normally aren't my thing, but this pairing intrigues me, as does the plot. Basically, so you're not confused, Professor Gast and Professor Hojo have created a machine that allows living beings to cross dimensional pathways. They selected a small, elite group of SOLDIER cadets to be their guinea pigs, lead by one instructor, Zax Foster, and one team captain, Cloud Strife. ::grin:: If, in the event that the machine is successful, this team makes it to Balamb Garden alive, they are to study at said Garden for one full year as exchange students, and return to Shinra HQ afterwards to report and take their examinations._

_So that's it in a nutshell. Trust me, it's a lot better than it sounds.. --;; Eventual Cloud/Squall… Maybe other relationships. We'll see. ; And, like I said, this is just a kinda attention-getter. So that's why they're together already. Sorta. …Aw, hell, just read it. --;_

* * *

Squall stared at the ceiling of Zell's room, pleased with himself for being able to near-completely drown out the blonde's banter. Granted, they were surprisingly close friends, but Squall was a loner by nature, and sometimes Zell just needed to shut the hell up.

"Anyway, I'm gonna go see if I can catch Irvine and Selphie at the hotel before they leave, so I'll see ya later!!" It was an abrupt ending to Zell's rambling, causing Squall to blink a few times and focus on the retreating back. Trying not to let himself become too glad that Zell was gone, his thoughts were cut short as a crown of blond re-appeared from behind the door. "And don't touch anything!"

With that, he left. Squall was alone.

The captain sighed and shoved a hand through his hair, feeling suddenly empty. His mind wandered to the other outrageously spiky-haired teen he had just met but a month ago. Cloud… _What a manly name._ He snorted and exited the pristine room. Although his feet made no sounds on the stairs, he would have made a bet that Zell's mother had still picked up on his presence. Mother's intuition, or whatever they called it... He peeked into the kitchen to see her at the table playing cards with another woman, and smiled, brief and soft. "I'm going down to the harbor for a bit, Mrs. Dincht. I should be back within an hour or so."

"Okay, Squall. Be careful!"

Ducking back out, he closed in on the front door and exited the house. A breath of fresh, dusky air hit his lungs, filling his nose with the smells of a dozen dinners and a moist sea breeze. It had been his home at one point, but was no longer… However, he couldn't help but take to Zell's mother like a surrogate child. She just had this loving aura about her. He began to walk towards the harbor, noting that he was dressed in the same black sweatshirt and jeans that he wore on the very day he had met Cloud.

_But why would that matter? It's not like he'd care, or even notice … Nor is it like _I _care or anything…_

The wind picked up as the sun fell deeper, and Squall pulled his hands back into his sleeves to ward it off. Stars were beginning to blink on and twinkle against a violet sky. He supposed it would be terribly romantic, had he had someone to share it with. He didn't let himself wonder if Cloud was thinking the same thing.

As he walked along the "road" that lead through Balamb, he reflected on the past few weeks. Of Cloud's group from… wherever the hell it was… the blond was really the only tolerable one out of all of them, he supposed. That Zax guy, Cloud's instructor, was just another Zell in disguise, and the rest of them he didn't even bother to remember. It was only by luck that they had gotten to be roommates (or perhaps not, as apparently Cloud was their squad captain as well), and most shocking of all, he found that he rather appreciated the blonde's presence in his room. He still wasn't sure why they didn't have their own rooms, but he was beginning to mind significantly less than he had at first.

Coming upon the harbor, he allowed the breeze to toss his hair about a bit. It wasn't like he had a particular style to it or anything… The captain scouted for people he knew (_Yeah, like there are a lot of those…) _along the cement shoreline.

...?

Cloud was sitting there. Not fishing, or skipping rocks… Just sitting there, propped back on his arms and allowing his legs to dangle over the edge of the cement dock. Squall walked in a wide arc so that he was behind the blond, and began to creep further, wondering why in hell he had to sneak up on the other when they were in _his _hometown to begin with… Shaking his head, he got within ten feet of the stoic teen and stopped to observe.

The wind was blowing hard, but only managing to sway the crown of outrageous spikes atop the other captain's head. _Heh, Zell would be jealous…_ Clad in a simple black sleeveless turtleneck and a pair of gray parachute pants, he looked almost like a storybook poet would, with his faint frown and deep eyes. It took Squall's breath away. He suddenly had an uncontrollable urge to run his fingers through the teen's hair, and almost smiled at that… He got people asking him if they could touch his hair all the time, and he found it near unbearably annoying. With the hairstyle that Cloud's tresses were in, how often did _he _get it?

He stood, debating with himself, for another full minute before he decided that the only way anything got done anywhere was if initiative was taken. So, he padded up behind Cloud (_His eyes are closed…must be either really tired or really confident…)_ and paused one last time with his hand above the blonde's head. A pair of shoes had socks stuffed into them and was set neatly next to one of the poles at the edge of the cement seashore, causing Squall to look at Cloud's naked feet.

What a weird kid.

Reaching out with his right hand, he stroked back from the teen's hairline with his four forefingers, and from the back of his head with his thumb. They gathered around the base of the dominant spike and stroked upwards, causing Squall to shiver as he felt the silken texture of the hair in his hand. _Yeah. He would definitely be jealous._

Of course, he also succeeded in startling the bejeezus out of his blond acquaintance. Blue (_My god, how can they be so vibrant!?) _eyes widened, then narrowed up at him in a look that clearly said 'what the hell?' _Think fast_… "There was a lightning bug in your hair."

"Oh. Uh, thanks." They shifted uncomfortably for a moment, Squall wondering why he had come up with nothing better, and Cloud wondering if he wanted the brunette's company or not. Shrugging, he shifted over a few inches and patted the still-warm spot he had previously occupied. "Squall, right?"

He nodded. 

"You can sit down if you want."

Feeling slightly privileged, he nodded again and took his seat next to Cloud. The sky was almost completely black now, and stars dotted the sky like powdered sugar. Silence settled between them once more, albeit a comfortable one, allowing them to listen to the rhythmic ringing of a boat's bell in the distance. Squall had never, ever been one for small talk, but he found himself suddenly wanting to hear the blonde's voice again. "It's strange, isn't it?"

Cloud frowned and looked over at him. "What's that?"

"How night can come so quickly. One second… You'll be watching the sun fall, maybe admiring the colors, and then the next second it's all gone…"

Cloud's eyes narrowed at him once more, though he couldn't quite place the look, before he turned his gaze onto the horizon once more. There was something bothering the blond. His shoulders rose significantly as he took a large, deep breath, and then let it out. A shake of his head flung a few stray locks of hair from in front of his face, and Squall wanted to reach out and tug on them, wanted to… to _cuddle _the blonde, but he knew that was only his other head talking. Well, he hoped. Besides, he didn't think Cloud would appreciate that very much, either. "Everything's strange here."

"What do you mean?"

Cloud's brows furrowed, creating a small dip in between his eyes that Squall couldn't stop looking at, and looked down at his knees. He played with a fold in the fabric of his pants for a minute or two before looking back to the darkened sea. "In Midgar, where our headquarters are, nothing is like this at all." He looked up and motioned with a small gesture at the ocean. "There's no fresh air, no wind… Everything is polluted with something. Everything. The air, the rain, the soil, the people… Finding something organic in that city is extremely rare. Those who can afford it will pay thousands of gil for fresh cut flowers."

Squall wasn't surprised to hear that Cloud and his team had come from such an awful place. By first appearances, Cloud and his group were a very, very tough group of people. You didn't get those types of people from towns like Balamb. "I guess it would be strange, then."

"I grew up in a small town… We had a few trees, and every once in a while, someone would put a basket of flowers out on their porch. I left for SOLDIER training when I was 13, but I didn't get accepted until I was 15. I didn't think I'd forget so easily what it was like to breathe deep without coughing, or to smell a fresh flower, but three years in Midgar can really mess with a person. Especially in SOLDIER."

Squall nodded, not knowing how to reply to the unexpected anecdote. Silence reined once more, and the brunette captain glanced down at Cloud's muscular arms to note the gooseflesh on his biceps and forearms. _What kind of lunatic wears a sleeveless top in the middle of winter?_ The SeeD cadet was about to bring it up when he was cut off.

"You know, you can, if you want to."

…_?_

"Huh?"

"Touch my hair. You can, if you want."

A shiver ran throughout Squall's body at the permission, but he still tried to brush it off. Just to make sure. "But—"

"Squall. Look around us." Cloud turned to him with amusement sparkling in his sapphire eyes. "There aren't any fireflies here."

Blushing hotly at being discovered, Squall opened his mouth to apologize, but was cut off yet again.

"So go ahead. I don't mind."

Deciding that it was then or never, he hesitantly raised his hand to the side of Cloud's head and brushed the droopy spikes behind his ear. Then, growing more confident every second he was still whole, he ran his fingers through the larger, more shocking spray of spikes atop the blonde's head, scratching lightly at the scalp and drawing four separate paths down the back of his head to the nape of his neck. Cloud's eyes were closed again, his lips lightly parted, and as Squall rubbed the tops of his fingers against the back of the blond captain's neck, he was rewarded with a soft sigh and a lean into his hand.

Wow, he's absolutely gorgeous… A diamond in the rough.

"Hmm?"

"What?"

"You said something." Cloud opened his eyes and frowned at him. "About diamonds."

Squall's stomach flopped deep in his belly. _I actually _said _that? Shit! _"I…" Meeting Cloud's gaze, his breath left him once more. The stars were being reflected in the blue jewels before him. "I said…" _Stop stuttering, you coward, at the very least, he's unarmed…_"I said that you're a diamond in the rough."

Cloud blinked at him in shock. Then, ever so very slightly, he began to smile. And he continued to do so until sparkly white teeth peeked out from behind the full, pouty lips, and a light blush highlighted the teen's cheeks as he looked down at the surprisingly small distance between their two hips. "Flattering, Mr. Leonheart, but entirely untrue. There's nothing special about me."

_Wow… _"On the contrary, Mr. Strife." He reached up with his other hand to cup the blonde's far cheek, causing their gazes to meet again. "I'm quite sure you deserve the compliment." Then, impulsively, he leaned in and kissed his roommate.

* * *

_Yeah, I'm leaving it there. I debated on continuing a little further, but yer just gonna have to wait to see what Cloud does about it. As for Cloud's little story about joining up, that's just gonna be how it is in this fic... And for future reference, Sephiroth's not insane, obviously, and Squall isn't all gung-ho important yet. Mkay? Keep an eye out for the story if you liked this... If not, just lemme know what you didn't like about it, ne?_


End file.
